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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23547676">Gone</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMoreLovingOne/pseuds/TheMoreLovingOne'>TheMoreLovingOne</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Charlastor Week, Depressing, F/M, Kinda</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 16:48:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,398</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23547676</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMoreLovingOne/pseuds/TheMoreLovingOne</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>She should've known her hotel wouldn't work. He always knew he'd have to pick up the pieces. Neither expected it to go to the length it did.</p><p>One of my entries for Charlastor Week, Day 6 Hurt and Comfort</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alastor/Charlie Magne</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>105</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Gone</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They were gone.</p><p>They were all gone.</p><p> Charlie stared at the carnage, her eyes wide and fruitlessly searching for the barest trace of a survivor. But there was none. Yet she still stood, unwilling to believe her eyes. Unwilling to look away from the ruins of the Hazbin Hotel. Her Hazbin Hotel.</p><p>The angels ascended, finishing their night of murder. They were covered in gore. One of them stopped at the still lit sign that guarded the shell of her dream and smashed the bulbs, signing the message that they would never let Charlie’s plan work with a personalized signature of darkness. And she was helpless to stop it. They left, eventually, and the clock in the center of town reset. Charlie knew she was supposed to send the all clear. For her subjects. But she couldn’t make herself do it. She couldn’t make herself do anything.</p><p>It felt like hours that she stood there, just watching. Too afraid to get closer and see what would be… left behind. Eventually that familiar, damned static started, interspersed with her rendition of “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows.” She didn’t even know how he could’ve gotten that song. She only sang it when she was alone…</p><p>She didn’t have the energy to ask him. And he didn’t seem interested in explaining. The static stayed consistent, a gentle hum, waiting for her to be ready to take the next step. The red sky burned oppressively above them, never changing. It almost mocked her. She had wanted to change things so badly, and yet here she was under the same sky, with the sickening knowledge that she was going to find her loved ones dead when she went inside.</p><p>The static spiked suddenly, kind of an alarm, right before her phone went off. She stared at it. Her father. Probably calling to remind her about the all clear. Rage filled her for a brief moment, like a flash of lightning, and she threw her phone with a loud scream. It shattered on the ground, sending glass everywhere. Al cleaned it up immediately, not wanting her to hurt herself. He gently reached out and took her hand, lifting it towards the sky. Charlie set the signal, her body sagging. The rage had gone as quickly as it had come and all that was left was preemptive exhaustion.</p><p>Sending the all clear had set her into motion again though. With purpose, she walked towards the door of the hotel. She would have looked as if it were any other day if it weren’t for her dead face and the tight, white-knuckled grip she kept on Alastor’s hand. He squeezed her tight, reassuring her that she wasn’t going anywhere alone. A few tears fell, fighting back against the self-control she was trying to exhibit. He noticed and wiped them away.</p><p>The door was completely torn off its hinges. The hotel’s insides, which Niffty had just cleaned that morning and a lifetime ago, were destroyed completely. Fabrics, paintings, wallpaper, glass, all of it was just strewn around with no care. But that wasn’t the worst of it. The worst of it was the blood that had leaked into the lobby from the small den to the left where they had their meetings. Charlie let out a strangled cry, more tears slicking her face.</p><p>“Charlie,” Al said, his voice uncharacteristically tender. “We don’t have to do this. We can just turn around. Get it all cleaned up before you-“</p><p>“No,” Charlie snapped. “I will not leave them like… this.” She yanked her hand from Al’s and went straight into the den. There was no time to prepare for it, and honestly, she wouldn’t have been able to anyway. No. She just had to go.</p><p>It was worse than she could have imagined. There they were- Angel, Vaggie, Niffty, Husker. Torn apart. Limbs were strewn everywhere. Blood soaked every available surface. Bones stuck out in places they definitely shouldn’t have been. What really broke her, though, were their expressions. Full of surprise and horror. It had been a massacre. A slaughter. So quick they hadn’t even known what was coming. All they knew at the end was pain. The dam inside her broke and she let herself cry, fully. The kind of crying where every sob is so big it hurts and comes out in a scream.</p><p>And she vomited. She vomited until her stomach was empty and even then, she dry-heaved through tears. Al had followed her immediately and held her hair back while she puked. He didn’t mind the gore, though he found it to be distasteful purely on account of these people being his… friends? Acquaintances? Something. But he had to be there for Charlie. He rubbed her back, his static flipping through various frequencies and sounds. He was experiencing a multitude of feelings- anger at the angels for hurting Charlie, irritation at the loss of these demons who had filled up his life at an arm’s length, irritation at the loss of investment, yet grim acknowledgement that he had expected this in his own way.</p><p>But none of that mattered. Charlie mattered. When she was able to move again, she  did. She stood, gripping his arm tightly for support. The structural damage was the same on all floors. Doors gone, furniture and walls broken to bits. Every single guest they’d accumulated in the past year were in their rooms, dead, in the same torn apart manner of her friends. She didn’t know whether the angels had brought them here, or whether they’d been here anyway. But either way, they were all gone and it killed her inside even more.</p><p>Every last bit of hope she had had for this project was gone. She didn’t know who she’d thought she was kidding. Of course Heaven wasn’t going to open its doors for sinners. Of course she wouldn’t be able to make a difference. She was never supposed to. She was just supposed to play nice and look pretty. Well they had gotten what they wanted. She was never going to try again.</p><p>Tears still streaming down her face and guilt still pitted in her stomach she left the hotel for the last time. If the doors had been in place she would have closed them in respect. But they weren’t. She stopped at the door of the den again. Whispering a goodbye, she pressed a kiss to her shaking hand and touched the door frame. She tried not to look to closely at the mangled bodies of her family, her true family. And then they were outside again in the warm, stagnant Hell air. Charlie turned and looked at the Hotel again. With a roar, she sent bursts of Hellfire at it, watching as it consumed the building into an all-encompassing blaze. And then she sat, watching it burn, with the bodies and memories of her hope inside it.</p><p>Al sat with her, pulling her close. He was warmer than she expected him to be. But her brain didn’t dwell on that. It replayed the gruesome scene over and over again in her mind, filling her with numb horror. Her face was puffy from crying so much and so hard.</p><p>Al caressed her arms with his thumb, slowly and gently. She sobbed into his chest.</p><p>“It wasn’t your fault you know, darling.”</p><p>“What?” Charlie asked, her voice muffled by his coat. He squeezed her tighter, protectively.</p><p>“It wasn’t your fault. I know I didn’t really believe in your whatchamacallit at the beginning, but it was a swell idea and you’ve proven that since then. Why, if the cards hadn’t been stacked against you…” He trailed off for a moment, looking up at the sky, his eyes glowing in controlled fury. “If they hadn’t sabotaged you, dear, I do believe you would have done it. I believe you would have saved lives.” He brushed her hair back with his hand, gently trailing his fingers down her cheek and then her arm.</p><p>“I should’ve-“ Charlie hiccuped. “I should’ve been there. I should have stopped them somehow. It was my fault they d-… d-… di-“</p><p>“No it wasn’t. It was theirs. I’ll find those simpletons and I’ll rip them apart.” The air around them filled with glowing sigils. His static hissed and the air burned with the smell of Al’s magic, ready to be released in a whirlwind of rage to destroy all in its path. But he didn’t move. He stayed there with her. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You were caught unawares by their massacre. And if you had stayed at the hotel, perhaps you would be gone too.” He silently seethed at the very thought of his Charlie in such a state.</p><p>“Rather be gone than be al- alone!” she sobbed, gripping his coat tightly.</p><p>“You’re not alone. And you will never be alone again,” he said darkly, his static roaring for a moment, before settling back into the hum of anger. “No one will ever touch you, or even hurt you like this again. I won’t let them. I will take on every blasted angel in Heaven before you cry like this again.” He tipped her chin up and pressed a staticky kiss to her forehead. Her eyes were dull. He didn’t like that they were missing their usual sparkle. Yes, someone would pay for this.</p><p>“Do you… Do you think I helped them? Do you think there’s a chance that-“</p><p>“That they’ve gone on to something better? I don’t know. I don’t know whether Heaven is even better considering what they’ve done. But I know that you helped them. I know that you changed them. You are a force to be reckoned with my dear. They couldn’t have stayed the same if they tried!” He wiped another tear away. They had slowed for now. They were still coming, but not as hard. She was taking stock of his words. Good. “You did a humdinger of a job on that Husker. I didn’t know anyone could help him. I used to think they were all lost causes. But you made me see that they could do anything. You made me see the rainbow, if you don’t mind the callback.” He pinched her cheek gently. She didn’t smile, but she looked less dead than she had a moment before.</p><p>“I hope so… I hope they knew they were loved. Before they…”</p><p>“They did. Charlotte you are so full of love. It is in everything you do- the way you smile, walk, talk. The way you sing and dance. The way you experience the world. You light up the world around you. And you loved them with everything you had. There’s no way they couldn’t know. Yes indeedy, they knew. I promise.” Alastor believed what he was saying. Maybe he didn’t care personally for the residents. But he knew Charlie, knew how much she did. He saw it. In every interaction she had with them. It was just who she was. He wished she knew it. He was uncomfortable with this much affection. But he knew this pain was too big to go away. And he was prepared to hold it with her until it wasn’t.</p><p>The fire crackled in front of them. As Hellfire, it burnt way hotter and way faster than human flame. In the hours they’d sat there, the hotel had almost completely disappeared into ash. Charlie didn’t know where she was going to go after this. She was in so much pain. The thought of going home to her ex-angel father almost killed her. She couldn’t do that. She would stay here in the ashes if she had to. Anything was better than to have to see the faces of everyone who had known she couldn’t do it. Al… Al had thought she could do it. She took the time to really look at him. It was then she noticed he wasn’t smiling. She had never seen him without a smile.</p><p>She saw so many emotions on his face she never expected. Anger that she somehow knew wasn’t directed at her, joy at the thought of revenge. The one that really surprised her though, was love. Love, looking directly at her. She didn’t understand how so many things could happen in the span of the day. She shook her head, leaning back into him. She watched as the last of the hotel burned away, leaving just the massive pile of ash and a view bits of mangled metal.</p><p>“Sweetheart,” Al said softly, his crackle going soft and sort of comforting, like white noise.</p><p>“Yeah?” she sniffled. She was still crying. Her ribs hurt from her earlier sobs.</p><p>“This isn’t the end. You can tell the world what they did. You can fight this. And I’ll be by your side every step of the way. I promise you. We’ll make them pay. And in the meantime… My home is open. To you. I want to protect you. I don’t want you to be alone. Let me stay by your side. Charlie. Please.” He stood, pulling her with him easily, and held both of her hands. Their eyes met, his filled with quiet intensity. He brushed her tears away again, not for the last time that evening. Not for the last time for the rest of their lives. She nodded, wrapping her arms around his waist and hiding in his chest. He held her tight, blocking her away from the world. He wasn’t going to let her go. She was his now. His to protect and love, to comfort and to hold. Until Hell froze over. With her consent, he whisked them away from the remains of the Hazbin Hotel. He took her home, where he spent the rest of the night in bed with her, holding her and soothing her through the tears and the nightmares when she did occasionally sleep. He plotted the whole time, wide awake, entranced by the revenge he could get in the name of his love. The damage he could cause. And he vowed that he would make her smile again, if it killed him.</p><p>No. He wouldn’t let it kill him. His smile came back, colder than ever before. He would let it kill others. He would kill others, with his bare hands. He would tear angels wing from wing, limb from limb. All for her to smile again.</p>
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